A
chapelry was a subdivision of an
ecclesiastical parish in
England, and parts of
Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. It had a similar status to a
township but was so named as it had a
chapel which acted as a subsidiary place of worship to the main parish church. Such chapelries were common in
northern England where the parishes had been established in medieval times when the area was sparsely populated, thus obliging parishioners to travel long distances to the parish church.